Up And Adams!

Exactly 20 years after the release of his self-titled debut album Canadian rocker Bryan Adams remains hugely popular. His boyish, nice guy image (T-shirt, leather jacket, neat haircut, etc) has remained virtually unchanged over the years while he continues to write a winning combination of radio-friendly, albeit highly-crafted, ballads and high-octane rockers.

Born into a military family, Adams lived all over the world before laying down roots in Vancouver at the age of 14. Abandoning his studies for rock n roll, he hooked up with a variety of local bands including Sweeney Todd with whom he recorded an album while still a teenager.
Leaving the band to pursue a solo career, he met local musician/producer Jim Vallance in a record shop in 1978. After deciding to work together they scored a record deal with A&M Records in Toronto for the now-legendary sum of $1.00! Adams' first release for the label, 'Let Me Take You Dancing', recorded when he was 19, became a disco hit in 1979, selling 80,000 copies as a remixed 12" single in New York City alone.
A&M then funded an album which elicited much radio interest in the young Canadian singer on both sides of the North American border.
Such was A&M's belief in the Adams-Vallance team that they were then shipped to New York to record the follow-up, 1981's You Want It, You Got It. Produced by the legendary Bob Clearmountain, and featuring guest appearances by G.E. Smith (guitarist for Hall and Oates) and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (The Doobie Brothers), it continued to build his profile.
His next effort Cuts Like A Knife, hit the charts in both Canada and the US, yielding several hit singles. But it was 1984's Reckless, featuring the hits 'Summer of '69', 'Run To You 'and a duet with Tina Turner, 'It's Only Love', which catapulted him to worldwide success.
Since then, he's had a string of hits including the record-breaking No. 1 '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You', 'Can't Stop This Thing We Started', 'Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven', 'Do I Have To Say The Words', 'Please Forgive Me', 'You Ever Really Loved A Woman' and 'The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You'. His most recent hit, 'When You're Gone', was a duet with Spice Girl Mel C.
Adams is now firmly established as one of the most successful singer-songwriters/ performers in music history with over 50 millions albums sold worldwide and an impressive list of nominations and awards: They include: 24 Juno nominations (16 won); 13 Grammy nominations (3 won), bizarrely, one from the American Paper Institute for the environmental packaging of Waking Up The Neighbours; 3 Academy Awards nominations; 4 MTV Awards nominations (2 won); plus dozens of other awards since 1983.